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Hacksaw Ridge, which opened in wide release last weekend, represents Mel Gibson’s directorial comeback after years in the professional wilderness, following the July 2006 publication of a DUI arrest report that quoted him as saying, “The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world” and the July 2010 leak of a recorded phone call in which he told his then-girlfriend, “You look like a pig in heat, and if you get raped by a pack of niggers it will be your fault....

Fri 9/2-Mon 9/5: The 27th Annual African Festival of the Arts opens an intercontinental portal at Africa International House in Washington Park (6200 S. Drexel). The festival simulates a traditional African village, subdivided into Nubia (fine art), Kush (wearable art), Songhay (collectibles, natural products, and more arts and crafts), Timbuktu (African fabrics and fashion), and Bank of the Nile (food court), complete with drumming and afro-folk, spiritual demos, handwoven clothing, and more....

When queer people choose to start a family, major life decisions like where to live and attend school require extra consideration. Mercedes Santos and Theresa Volpe, one of the first legally wed gay couples in Illinois, are raising their three children in Evanston and enrolled them at Baker Demonstration School in Wilmette because of its progressive and inclusive community. “We had to consider how our children would be accepted in their school, as well as the neighborhood they grew up in, based on our family structure,” Volpe said....

The Reader‘s archive is vast and varied, going back to 1971. Every day in Archive Dive, we’ll dig through and bring up some finds. Fear of further copying was why Crib was located so far offshore and why you had to take a speedboat to get there. D’Angelo was coy about what he planned to serve on opening night. “If I told you anything I’d have an animal rights naval blockade on my hands,” he told Sula....

It is once again that wonderful time of year, eagerly awaited by Reader staff, when Lay’s releases its experimental potato chip flavors. In past years, Lay’s entrusted the conception of its new flavors to the masses and, last year at least, in a beautiful and touching gesture, even gave them credit on the bags. This year, though, it’s back to dreaming up flavors in-house. I guess that’s not really such a bad thing; based on our taste test, last year’s American regional-based flavors were not very good....

Courtesy of Paul McCartney’s Facebook page This guy is headlining Lollapalooza Lollapalooza announced its lineup at 6 AM today, and the biggest name on the bill is also its oldest: Paul McCartney. The Beatle headlines the three-day Grant Park festival alongside Metallica, Florence + the Machine, Sam Smith, Bassnectar, and the Weeknd. It’s a far more perplexing list than the tame, underwhelming collection of acts rounded up to close out each night of the megafest last year, but the uneven distribution of talent rests heavily on the two names at the top of the bill....

Street View is a fashion series in which Isa Giallorenzo spotlights some of the coolest styles seen in Chicago.

In 1991, when I was a student at the SAIC, the Art Institute hosted a retrospective exhibition of Martin Puryear’s sculptures. Most of the pieces on display were made of wood and somehow familiar and mysterious at the same time. Some resembled boats, others were like human figures; but the works would turn away and in on themselves, refusing to be defined. When Puryear was invited to illustrate a new edition of Jean Toomer’s 1923 Harlem Renaissance novel Cane he set himself the challenge of working solely on a flat surface....

Welcome to Flopcorn, where Reader staffers and contributors pay tribute to our very favorite bad movies. In this installment, associate editor Jamie Ludwig ponders her love-hate relationship with The Great Escape. Obviously, given the track records of the prisoners, this was hardly a stroke of genius. Many troops considered it their sworn duty to try to escape captivity; a POW on the run was an annoyance to the Nazis and a drain on resources....

Jack Fuller died Tuesday at the age of 69, just as his latest latest book, One From Without, was being published. It’s described as a novel of “corporate intrigue,” which Fuller, at the end of his long career at the Tribune, would have learned pretty much everything about. I recommend it out of hand. Fuller edited the Tribune editorial page and then the entire newspaper. Then he was the publisher and eventually he was put in charge of all the Tribune Company newspapers....

Brian Jackson ‘Mayor Garcia’ probably sounds good to this guy too. As must be painfully obvious to everyone by now, I have what you might call a complicated relationship with Chicago voters. I realize, of course, that this sounds delusional, given that just the other day the Tribune came out with a poll that said Mayor Rahm was up 58 to 30 percent among likely voters. The same, of course, can be said for Mayor Rahm....

As I write this, we still have three days—and counting—until Mayor Lightfoot’s much-anticipated budget speech, to be delivered Thursday, August 29, at 6 PM. Live on TV! “Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, on this continent . . . ” By the way, the aforementioned predecessor is Rahm Emanuel, just in case you forgot. Now, I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking—damn, Ben, not another TIF column!...

On October 24, 2004, white Minneapolis police officer Scott Mars shot and killed a black 15-year-old named Courtney Williams. According to Minneapolis Public Radio, the police department claimed Williams was holding a gun when he was shot—a BB gun was entered as evidence—but the Williams family and members of Minneapolis’s Police Community Relations Council disagreed. In 2005 a Hennepin County grand jury decided not to indict Mars for the shooting....

It’s no longer particularly remarkable when a rock band continues to soldier on more than four decades after it started, but it’s another matter when a group continues to produce strong new music rather than exploit nostalgia. David Thomas is the only member left from the original lineup of Pere Ubu, but despite the stunning cast of musicians that have played in the band over the years, including synthesizer master Allen Ravenstine and guitarist Jim Jones, among others, it would be hard to dispute that it’s always been his outfit—no element has defined the band’s music more than his slightly unhinged yawp....

In my favorite photo of my parents, they’re sitting next to each other, looking directly at the camera, their cheeks slightly touching. My mom’s legs are crossed and slanted towards my dad. His left hand hangs gently over her knee as she rests hers on his stomach. They look comfortable and happy. Behind them is a bright Puerto Rican flag. Its red and white stripes fill the frame as my parents sit proudly in front of it....

By now you probably know a depressing amount about the shooting at Orlando gay nightclub Pulse that claimed the lives of at least 49 people early Sunday morning. It’s hard to know how to move forward from the deadliest such atrocity in modern U.S. history, because nothing relevant has changed since the last time a mass killing dominated the nation’s headlines—that is, this December, when a married couple killed 14 in San Bernardino, California....

This story is part of the Marshall Project’s “We Are Witnesses: Chicago” series. In 15 direct-to-camera testimonies, this collection of videos gives voice to Chicagoans affected by the justice system. Watch the videos at themarshallproject.org/chicago.